Quick Movie Reviews

A bold and sprawling suburban epic that pieces together interlocking storylines in the fast food industry. Although Linklater's focus is on his characters and their emotional relationships, he also paints a pretty damning portrait of a corrupt fast food conglomerate that should raise questions for further research.

Really I like any movie with Greg Kinner. The weakest point was Avril Lavigne's cameo (she can't act). This story was really good and on my top 10 list for 2006. There are 3 interconnected stories that work really well and cover the different aspects of the food industry.

This was an interesting take on the current American lifestyle. It tried to make some important political points but usually goes over the top. The part most well done was the take on imigrants treking in from Mexico, trying to make a life. The most important part was for all you meat eaters out there--you should watch this movie before your next bite of beef (or pork or chicken or fish, the slaughter process is all the same). If you can't watch all the slaughterhouse scenery, you shouldn't allow yourself to eat meat.

Full Movie Reviews

Based on a factual and damning indictment of the fast food industry by Eric Schlosser, Fast Food Nation tries terribly hard to be the "Traffic" of the meat packing industry, but the fictionalized approach lacks the biting satire required to do the material justice. The story begins quite well, focusing on a fast food company executive investigating an allegation that their burgers have "got shit in them" and it makes for a couple of good scenes involving nice cameos by Bruce Willis as a corporate hard ass and Kris Kristofferson as a jaded rancher. But half way through the film he just disappears, never to be seen again and it turns into a daytime soap opera about immigration?! Obviously fearing McLawyers, the film is based on fictitious companies and therefore passes the buck onto non-exi...

I expected a lot more from Richard Linklater. He usually makes films that are much focused than this one. That said, I don't think this is a bad movie. This film tries to say something about America's consumption (some might say obsession) regarding meat and abused immigrants (legal or otherwise) in the work place. That's nice and everything but as a film critic, I'd have to look deeper than that. I thought the most gripping scene was the end when they actually filmed the killing, skinning, and chopping of cows. That really got to me because I did not expect such scenes in a (slightly) comedic film. That sudden turn caught me off-guard and it was very effective. Other than that, the rest of the film was uneven and random. Speaking of random, Avril Lavigne appeared in this movie. She did a...